A scholarly attempt at an interpretation of Sunday's liturgical readings.

Posts tagged ‘Handling temptation’

How many times have we been confronted with the question: “Should I do this…or not?” The welfare of someone else would be affected, so the moral choice should be made very carefully.

I’m speaking of temptation which very often makes us ask the above question. Keep in mind that temptation, in itself, is not a sin but rather an occasion to commit a sin. The sin is in the choice made.

How does one deal with temptation? The Gospel for the first Sunday of Lent (Mark 1:12-15) gives us some ideas. The brief gospel appears to be divided into two parts: Temptation and Belief.

In the first part (Mark 1:12-13), Jesus is driven to the desert (by the Holy Spirit) where he was tempted. Unlike Matthew’s gospel (Matthew 4:1-11) where the temptations are specified, none are specified in Mark. Simply put, Jesus is tempted but does not fall into temptation.

In the second part (Mark 1:14-15), Jesus is proclaiming the “Good News” in and around Galilee. What part of the “Good News” was Jesus proclaiming? “Repent” and “Believe,” two key issues which prepared the listeners to have an open heart to hear the fuller message.

Concerning “repentance” the Greek uses the word metanoeitewhich means “turning around.” A change in behavior was what was being demanded by Jesus. That “turning around” would make it possible to hear the whole of the Good News. After the “turning around” what was asked was to “believe” in the rest of the Good News.

Now would be a good time to ask what the above Gospel reading would have to say to us. This may seem weird, but I think that the underlying element of this gospel message was that of taking seriously our own Baptism. Why?

The few verses before the above gospel reading speak of Jesus’ baptism (Mark 1:9-11) and the role of the Holy Spirit is specifically mentioned. The Holy Spirit is the one who brings Jesus into the desert where Jesus is to overcome temptation. Then Jesus goes into Galilee “proclaiming” the Good News. It is fair to conclude that because of his baptism, Jesus was able to resist temptation and proclaim the Good News, because he had the support of the Holy Spirit.

So it is with us. Because of our having been baptized, we are able to confront temptation with the support of the Holy Spirit. If we consent to the temptation, repentance (Sacrament of Reconciliation) will help us open our hearts to listen to the Good News.

Our belief in the Good News will be conditioned by what our knowledge tells us about the Nicene Creed and our reading/hearing of the Holy Scriptures. Remember that people will judge us according to our behavior. Then they will decide whether we are true disciples of Jesus…or not.